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Goal Setting Worksheet Guide PDF
Goal Setting Worksheet Guide PDF
Goal Setting Worksheet Guide PDF
Setting
Worksheet
A free template to help you define your goals
& create an action plan for achieving them.
Goal Setting Worksheet
Over the years, we’ve seen many professionals (and sellers and managers
and companies) get goal planning, action planning, and commitment to
execution right, and we’ve also seen many fall short.
To the first point, once you define your goals, you need a clear path to get
there. You need to map out how you’ll achieve your goals with a concrete
action plan. Only when you’re crystal clear on the actions you must take to
reach your goal do you give yourself a fighting chance of achieving it.
Habit change is also an essential, yet rarely addressed, piece of the puzzle.
If you keep doing the same things, you’ll keep getting the same results.
As Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing
over and over again, but expecting different results.”
If you want to achieve your goals, you must do things differently. This
requires changing your behaviors, and often changing bad habits that
derail your focus, priorities, and, ultimately, your results.
Finally, you need to be mindful of how you spend your time. You need to
spend your time on activities that are most likely to generate an outsized
return. Once you choose where to spend your time, you need to avoid
distraction and maximize your output per work hour.
In this Goal Setting Worksheet, we focus on 5 key areas to not only set
your goals, but also give yourself the best shot at achieving them.
1. Goal Setting
2. Action Plan
3. Habits to Change
4. TIME
5. Avoiding Distraction
On the following pages, we’ll walk you through each of these sections and
provide an example of a completed Goal Setting Worksheet. We suggest
you download the blank template and begin to fill it in as you read about
each section.
1. Goal Setting
As you think about your goals, break them down into big picture goals,
three-year goals, and annual goals. Once you do that, you can break them
down into your action plan with quarterly priorities, monthly objectives,
and weekly and daily actions.
§§ Big Picture Goal: What’s your big picture goal? What do you want
to achieve over the long-term? It may be to retire at a certain age, to
achieve a specific number for your net worth, or to open a specific
kind of business or to have the flexibility to do what you want with
your time and feel free.
While your big picture goal should be limited to one thing, you
might have two or three three-year goals that will put you on your
path to getting there.
§§ Annual Goals: This is where you’ll set specific targets for one year.
For example, if you’re in sales, you’ll at least set a sales and income
target. Even if you have a quota, you can set your personal goals to
be whatever you want them to be. If you want to be a top performer,
you often must reach a goal higher than your quota to get there.
Your annual goals don’t all have to be financial. You may want
to develop a specific expertise, be considered for a promotion,
or something else. Whatever they are, there should be no more
than five annual goals and one should be indicated as your most
important priority.
Take action: Go over to the Goal Setting Worksheet and start writing
down your goals. This process is simple, straightforward and allows you to
set your eyes on the prize.
If you work with a coach or manager, share your goals with them. A good
coach can often provide insight to help you determine your goals. When
you do this, however, remove any personal big picture or three-year goals,
and focus only on the annual goals or those more focused on business.
2. Action Plan
Once you have your goals, it’s critical to lay out how you’ll achieve them. A
strong focus on weekly actions—we recommend just 20 minutes per week
planning them—will focus what you do and help you feel motivated to do it.
You can’t just go from annual goals to weekly goals. First, you must work
out your short-term priorities.
§§ To Do This Week: The next step is to break down the monthly list of
actions into the big things you want to accomplish this week.
Take action: Break down your weekly to-do list by day and time.
This is often a list of three to five core activities you’re going to push
forward.
Take action: Identify your GIA, add it to your worksheet, and put
it first every day to make strides toward the long-term reward of
achieving the career success you seek.
§§ Sharing Your Actions: This last piece is critical. Don’t just plan your
weekly actions, track them with someone who’ll help you successfully
achieve those objectives and hold you accountable.
3. Habits to Change
You have to do things differently, and do different things, if you want
different results.
You may know your goals and define your action plan for the week, but all
is for naught if, when you start working, you’re too easily derailed.
Maybe you’re in the habit of checking your email first thing in the morning
and responding to all of your messages. If so, you’re not alone! Most
people do this, and it’s a productivity killer.
Maybe you’re a slave to your phone and you feel the need to check your
messages every time you hear that ding or buzz, or you simply pick it up
constantly to check a series of applications.
Whatever the case, you must change your habits if you want to achieve
your goals. Assuming you’re conscious of the habits you want to change,
you can intervene in several different places around the 4 Elements of
Habit. You can change the (1) trigger, (2) thought, (3) response, or define
and increase the desirably of your (4) reward.
3. Response: You take an action (e.g., you pick up the phone and check
the message).
4. Reward: This is your gain or payoff (e.g., “Oh great, that report I’m
waiting for is in. I’ll stop what I’m doing and take a look”).
If you want to change this or any other habit, you must change the trigger
(turn off alerts), thought (“If my phone buzzes, I don’t need to look at it
right now”), response (keep working), or reward (achieving the priority for
this week).
Take action: Identify the habits you want to change or begin that
will help you achieve your goals. Write them in your worksheet. See the
example Goal Setting Worksheet on page 10 for a few ideas.
4. Treasured: Time you hold dear. This is where you want to get. It’s
spending time doing the things that make you happy. The key to
maximining happiness and fulfilment is taking Treasured TIME.
2. Mandatory: Time spent doing things you feel you must do like
commuting to work, shaving, mowing the lawn, filling out expense
reports, attending certain meetings, etc. The key to Mandatory TIME
is minimizing or converting it into Treasured or Investment TIME.
Why are these levels important? If you want to achieve your goals, you
must Obsess Over TIME. In fact, this is one of The 9 Habits of Extreme
Productivity (click to download the white paper).
Most people waste a great deal of time in the Mandatory and Empty
categories without realizing it. Identifying where you spend your time will
go a long way to helping you realize where you can make changes that will
ultimately help you achieve your goals.
Take action: Use the worksheet to track your TIME. For two or three
days, obsessively track your time down to the minute. Once you know
where you’re spending your time, write down strategies in your worksheet
to take Treasured TIME, increase Investment TIME, minimize Mandatory
TIME, and eliminate Empty TIME.
If you want to achieve your goals, follow these tips to avoid distraction:
§§ My “To Don’t” List: If you have 42 priorities, you have none. With a
colleague, manager, or coach, be brutal about your to-do list and say
“no” to lower priorities.
When you say “no,” it doesn’t mean, “never.” Instead, it means, “not
right now.” To capture these items, create a to don’t list. Recognize
them as priorities—priorities you’re not getting to right now.
Take action: In your worksheet, move the priorities that you’re not
getting to right now to your “To Don’t” list.
It’s essential that you complete the entire worksheet. If you set your goals
and action plan, but don’t identify the habits you need to change or
where you need to spend your time to achieve your goals, you are unlikely
to be successful.
For some, this guide and worksheet are enough to help you get on the
path to setting and achieving your goals.
If, however, you’re serious about achieving your goals this year and want
additional guidance and advice, consider our 90-day Extreme Productivity
Challenge. It’s available as an online self-study program for individuals, or
an onsite workshop that includes 90-days of coaching for teams.
Either way, embrace the Goal Setting Worksheet and use it. Make it a part
of your regular routine to review your goals, set your priorities, and develop
your action plan. Tap an accountability partner to review progress weekly.
Do this and you’re much more likely to not only achieve your annual goals,
but also reach your long-term and big picture ones, all while living a
happier, more fulfilled life.
Goal Setting
Define the destination of your journey. Big picture, what do you want?
I want to retire in 12 years at 55 with enough money in the bank to enjoy my retirement and pay for my 2
children’s college.
Your “why” is the foundation of your goals and will help you stick to them long-term. Why have you chosen
your big picture goal?
Giving back to my children, being around at 55 when they are still at home in school for several years, and
being able to live free of debt or financial worry will allow me live a great majority of my life focused on
giving back and enjoying Treasured Time every day.
What do I need to achieve in 3 years that will put me on the path to achieving my Big Picture Goal?
Financial
§§ Retirement savings of XXX in 3 years
§§ Total compensation of Y
Strategic
§§ Positioned internally as the go to expert on the XYZ Technology
§§ Get promoted to Vice President of Strategic Accounts
List your goals for this year. Write down no more than five (as few as possible). Put your most important
priority first.
Selling my first cross-functional deal at the enterprise level ¨ Behind ¨ On Track ¨ Ahead
Action Plan
No more than 5. As few as possible. Bold the most As few as possible. Bold the most important
important priority. objective.
§§ Prospecting: Double my efforts for net new §§ Spend 25% of time prospecting
logos §§ Build and approve 2 account plans
§§ Account growth: build and execute plans to grow §§ Focus on my top 15 deals in the pipeline to drive
5 of my 15 most important accounts 6 figure proposals
§§ Drive 5 new proposals for greater than 6 figures §§ Avoid small sales to increase time for big ones
To Do This Week
Plan actions and calendar investment activities for next week on (day and time).
§§ Calendar 15 hours of prospecting and don’t get distracted
§§ Hold account plan meeting #1 and begin building accounts
§§ Write and present the ACME proposal
§§ Prepare strongly for my 3 most important sales meetings
§§ Build an opportunity plan to win the Smith deal and give the competition no chance
To Do - Core List
<To do list of all items goes here. Look at your to do this week and prioritize them in order.>
Stop wasting time in the a.m. on Say “When I open a browser, close
Save 5 hours a week.
reading web articles. it and look at my priority list.”
TIME
Topic Why
Winning major sales Can increase win rate from 35% to 55%
Mandatory TIME
Empty TIME
Avoiding Distraction
People coming to door and interrupting Close door, signal do not disturb
Phone and email checking habit Sprint - don’t look at phone/tech when sprinting
Possible priorities or actions that are good, but not great right now, or great but not priorities right now.
Focus on work.
§§ Focusing on deals under $25k unless they are at strategic accounts
§§ Focusing on accounts that can’t be at least $250k
§§ Joining meetings when asked unless I’m really needed or it helps me meet my goals
§§ Web surfing during the work day
Maximizing Energy
Category
Activity Minutes
(T, I, M, or E)
Commute I 35
Email M 10
Sales meeting M 25
Football scores E 15
Helpful Hints
§§ Start your daily to-do list with a GIA and do it first. No matter what.
§§ Print three copies of the time tracker (page 3 of the Goal Setting Worksheet) and complete it for at
least three days to get a realistic picture of how you spend your TIME.
Sellers today are more distracted than ever. The never-ending dings, rings, and buzzes that interrupt workflow
every few minutes are killing focus and productivity.
§§ Maximize motivation, make consistent progress, and of companies do not believe their
achieve goals sellers manage their time, focus, and
§§ Control TIME with the simplest, most effective time personal effectiveness well.
management system
Program Approach
§§ Ignore distractions, focus, and get in the Extreme
Productivity Zone §§ Extreme Productivity
Assessment
§§ Master The XP3 and 9 Habits of Extreme Productivity
§§ 1-Day Intensive Workshop
§§ Implement an accountability system to maximize execution
§§ 90-Day Extreme Productivity
§§ Achieve maximum output per work hour by focusing on Coaching
the activities that get outsized returns §§ Ongoing reinforcement
RAIN Group is a sales training, assessment, and performance improvement company that helps leading
organizations improve sales results. We’ve helped hundreds of thousands of salespeople, managers, and
professionals in more than 73 countries increase their sales significantly with RAIN Group’s consulting and
sales methodology.
Implement Sales Training that Delivers Real Results Identify Who Can and Will Sell with Great Success
RAIN Group’s sales training system inspires real Our assessments measure sales attributes and skills,
change and delivers results that last. Our rigorous identifying the factors that really make a difference
approach includes sales team evaluation, customized in sales performance. Whether you’re looking to hire
training programs, robust reinforcement, and someone who can and will sell, or looking to improve
coaching to help you and your team develop sales sales performance, we’ll help you build the most
and negotiation skills, and maximize your results. successful sales team.
Find out more about how RAIN Group can help you
unleash the sales potential of your team by visiting
raingroup.com or calling (508) 405-0438.
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